


I just want to be with you

by smittenwithsugden



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Wedding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-22
Updated: 2016-06-22
Packaged: 2018-07-16 15:27:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7273621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smittenwithsugden/pseuds/smittenwithsugden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be the happiest day of their lifes.</p>
<p>It's Robert's and Aaron's wedding day, or isn't it? Or is it?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I just want to be with you

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me back when the Vegas rumours started going round and I thought about them two eloping. This isn't really that, but this is what came out when I started writing.
> 
> Thanks to my dear friend Nuria, who was so kind to beta this for me.

It was supposed to be the happiest day of his life.

Right now he was supposed to celebrate that he married the love of his life.

But instead he was sitting in the waiting room of a hospital, desperately waiting to hear anything about anybody.

“Mr. Dingle?” somebody asked and Aaron looked up.

“Yes,” he said grumpily. “ What?”

He felt Robert’s hand on his thigh, but right now he couldn’t be bothered to be polite.

“Is there anywhere we could talk in private?” the man asked. 

He looked normal, like any common stranger and Aaron saw how Robert inspected him and measured him for potential danger.

“And who are you?” Robert asked coldly.

“Oh, I am so sorry, how rude of me. My name is Clay, I’m a police officer and I have a few questions about what happened.”

“Well,” Robert said and got up, “then there is no need to talk to Aaron alone, you can talk to both of us.”

“I’m afraid this is procedure, Mr. Sugden,” Detective Clay said.

“It’s alright,” Aaron whispered to Robert. “Just get me when there are any news.”

They got up and walked to a more secluded room, obviously one that had been cleared for these talks.

They sat down and Detective Clay leaned back, looking straight at Aaron.

“Can you tell me what happened?”

Aaron wanted to snap at him, wanted to curse that his wedding day got ruined, that this scumbag’s stupid vendetta had crushed his dream of finally being married to Robert. But he figured the more sufficient he was the faster he would get out of here and so he cleared his throat and told it like he remembered.

“We were in the barn, all our guests were already there, including Rhona, Paddy and Rakesh. They were probably the targets, I guess. Pierce was not invited, but he came anyway, sat in the last row. I saw him and I guess I should have said something, but to be honest I didn’t think anything of it. I just wanted to get married…” Aaron had to stop to bite down the sniff. He could not start crying now. He should have just asked him to leave.  
“Anyway,” he quickly continued before he went too far down that road, “Robert was just coming in and walking towards me when Pierce jumped up and screamed something about happiness never lasting and that we should all burn in hell and then he threw something and everything went up in flames. I mean we were in a barn, there was hay everywhere, we had wanted there to be a lot of hay, because…well, that doesn’t matter. Anyway, everybody started screaming and running outside but the ceiling would give in and I started coughing and screaming for Robert and my mum and my sister. I managed to get outside and saw Liv and Robert. There was a lot of shouting and my uncle went back in and brought my mum back out.”

“Okay,” Detective Clay interrupted him. “Have you seen Pierce again, after the fire started?”

“I don’t know,” Aaron said. “Maybe. I was focused on my family.”

“Of course,” the detective said. “Well, if you remember anything else, please call me.”

“’Right,” Aaron said, took the card and left the room after promising to tell Robert to come.

When he got back to the waiting area Robert was up and by his side in no time. “Everyone is out of mortal danger,” he said and Aaron felt like he could breathe easier.

“What about Liv and Mum?” he asked.

“Liv is fine, she got stitches on her arm and they are just doing another x ray on her to make sure her organs are fine,” Robert said and Aaron noticed how he hesitated.

“What about Mum?” he asked again.

“She got smoke intoxication. They need to keep her on a ventilator for the next 48 hours to make sure she breathes alright, but she will be fine, they assured me.”

“Okay,” Aaron said and grabbed his hand for a second, to recharge, to know that he was not alone. Robert squeezed it softly and Aaron let go again. “I’ll go look if I can see her, you have to go see that detective.”

“Okay,” Robert said and pulled him into a hug. “Love you,” he mumbled into his hair.

“Ditto,” Aaron mumbled back, “I so wanted to get married to you today…stupid Pierce…”

“Yes,” Robert said, “but we’ll get married no matter what, as soon as we can.”

“Hope so,” Aaron said and pulled back from the hug. “I can’t wait to be your husband.”

Robert gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and Aaron left to go see his mum.

\--

When Robert came back out he saw Vic hurrying towards him. They hugged and he looked at her, examined her in her very pretty dress. 

“You okay?” he asked.

She nodded quickly. “Yes, I’m fine and Adam is fine, too. But how are you? “

“Okay,” Robert said, “considering everything. Liv is okay. Chas is almost okay, but both out of danger. Aaron is pretty shook up, but no physical harm, thank god.”

Vic gave him a soft smile, “They really are your family, aren’t they?”

“Well, yeah,” Robert said, “but you are my family, too, and Adam, I guess, by default.”

Vic shook her head, “That’s not what I meant. I know you think of us as your family, but they /are/. I asked about how /you/ are and you told me about them. “

Robert furrowed his brows and tilted his head. She did have a point. “Yeah,” he said, like he just now really realized it. “Yeah, they are my family. Damn shame I wasn’t able to make it official today.”

At that moment the marriage registrar passed them in the hall, he looked like he got away with nothing but a scratch.

“Well,” Vic said, “the day isn’t over yet.”

Robert followed her gaze and saw the registrar as well. He needed a second but then his eyes lit up. He gave Vic a quick hug. “You’re the best,” he said and hurried off to catch the registrar.

\--

Aaron and Liv sat beside Chas’ bed, who was sleeping, so they had to speak in whispers.

“So everybody made it out ok?” Liv asked.

“Yeah,” Aaron said, “all out of mortal danger at least. I don’t know all the details yet. Anyone you’re particularly worried about?”

Liv hesitated but then shook her head. “You and Chas and Robert, but I know you are all all right…”

At the mention of Robert Aaron’s face fell. He had looked forward to this day so much. At the beginning he hadn’t been that excited about getting married. He had just known that Robert was the one for him and so when he proposed, all romantic and sappy, it didn’t take him a second to say yes. But when they got into the preparations of it all, had to make one decision after the other, he had begun to actually look forward to it. But he should have known, this is Emmerdale, no wedding ever went according to plan.

And now, now that he wanted nothing more than to finally be married to Robert it seemed like it was never gonna happen. How could they do it again now after what had happened?

Liv looked at him and sneaked an arm around him. “He’ll still marry you,” she whispered. 

Aaron gave her a small smile, “Can’t really do it now, though, can we? It’s kind of tainted now.”

“So what? You do it somewhere else then, some other time. Just because a maniac went crazy doesn’t mean you two can’t tie the knot,” Liv assured him. “You still want to, right?”

Aaron nodded immediately. “Of course.”

“Let’s do it then,” came a voice from the door and Aaron and Liv turned around simultaneously to see Robert standing there.

“Do what?” Aaron asked in his normal voice and Chas stirred in the bed.

“Get married,” Robert said. “I talked to our registrar and he can’t do it, but he knows one in Hotten. He called him up, we can go drive there right now and he’ll marry us.”

Aaron’s eyes grew wide and he didn’t know what to say, but Liv did.

“That’s awesome!”

Chas coughed from the bed, still sleeping, but enough to make Aaron shake his head. “I can’t leave her right now, sorry.”

Robert’s face fell even though he had expected something like that. 

“Yes, you can,” Liv said, much to Aaron’s and Robert’s surprise. “I stay here and watch her. If there is any change, I’ll text you immediately.”

Aaron felt the excitement rise again. Was this wrong? Should he be going off and do something this great when there were so many people sick and hurt because he had wanted to get married in the first place.

No, he thought, this wasn’t his fault, not everything was on him. This was on Pierce. And he wanted to marry Robert, wanted to be married to him.

“All right,” he said and his eyes lit up.

Robert smiled, stepped up and kissed him.

“Oi,” Liv said, “minor in the room.”

“Sooner or later you’ll have to get used to his,” Robert said.

“No, no, I want her to be grossed out by kissing as long as possible,” Aaron said. 

“All right, let’s leave before Chas wakes up and kills us for doing this,” Robert said.

Aaron hesitated at that and looked to his mum.

“She’ll be fine,” Liv said. “She’d want you to be happy. Go.”

Aaron smiled at that, hugged Liv shortly and then turned to Robert.

“Let’s go do this then,” he said and headed out of the room with Robert.

They just got out in the hall when Vic and Adam came up to them.

“So you’re gonna do it?” Vic asked immediately. “Where?”

“Hotten,” Robert said, “but we have to hurry.”

“All right,” Vic said and turned around. “Let’s go then.”

“What?” Robert asked. “You’re not coming with.”

“Excuse me,” Vic said and pressed her hands to her sides. “I came up with it and I am your sister and your best man, and Adam is Aaron’s best man and you’ll need witnesses, we’re coming with. Plus you don’t really think I am going to miss seeing my big brother getting married?”

Adam shrugged. “Well, technically you already saw your big brother getting married…”

That earned him a two-way nudge against his arm from Vic and Aaron and he laughed. 

“Hardly a comparison,” Robert said coldly. 

\--

Five minutes later they were in the car, Vic was driving, with Adam in the passenger seat and Aaron and Robert in the backseat.

Adam turned the radio on and as soon as Aaron heard the first few notes he shook his head.

“No, no, no Bonnie Tyler, no eclipse of the heart on my way to get married.”

Adam changed the channel and some song about losing ones virginity came on and he laughed.

“Hey mate,” Adam said, “did you realize that the first and the last time you’ll have sex are with a Sugden.”

Robert’s head spun around and he stared at Aaron. But he was busy slapping Adam from behind.

“And do you realize we made it three years without that coming up?” Aaron asked annoyed.

Adam laughed. “You don’t wanna go into marriage with a secret like that, do you?”

Aaron looked at Robert and said quietly, “It was a long, long time ago and it wasn’t that good…”

“Oi!” Vic protested from the front.

“Not the time!” Aaron snapped, because Robert still hadn’t said a word.

“I am gonna pretend that I never heard any of this,” Robert said.

“So, you don’t want me to remind you from time to time?” Adam asked with a laugh.

“Who allowed him to come?” Robert asked.

Before anyone could answer Vic stopped the car.

“We’re here, if you still wanna do this.”

“Of course,” both said in unison.

They got out of the car and got inside the building.

It wasn’t until the third funny look they got that Aaron realized what they must look like. They hadn’t changed since the fire and all of their clothes were tainted and Robert’s shirt had a long cut.

“Let’s find a bathroom, try to make ourselves look a bit presentable at least,” Aaron said.

“Oh yes,” Vic piped in. “Let’s find different ones so you two can meet in the room.”

Aaron and Robert rolled their eyes. This was not supposed to be traditional. They had just had that. This was supposed to do only one thing: get them married. But because they didn’t want to argue with Vic they agreed and Adam and Aaron took off in one way and Robert and Vic in another.

Ten minutes later they met in front of the room. Robert, or Vic, managed to somehow salvage the shirt and it was tugged in nicely. They both still had ash spots all over their suits, but their smiles made up for that.

Adam had gone in to see if the registrar had time for them now. 

\--

“Do you, Robert Sugden, take Aaron Dingle to be your husband, to cherish in friendship and love today, tomorrow, and for as long as the two of you live, to trust and honor him, to love him faithfully, through the best and the worst, whatever may come, and if you should ever doubt, to remember your love for each other and the reason why you came together with him this day?”

Robert locked eyes with Aaron and his lips curved up in the smile, the one that is only reserved for Aaron. “I do,” he said and Vic was sniffing behind him.

“Do you, Aaron Dingle, take Robert Sugden to be your husband, to cherish in friendship and love today, tomorrow, and for as long as the two of you live, to trust and honor him, to love him faithfully, through the best and the worst, whatever may come, and if you should ever doubt, to remember your love for each other and the reason why you came together with him this day?”

“I do,” Aaron smiled, probably the brightest smile he ever smiled. He grabbed Robert’s hand and whispered: “I love you.”

Robert smiled back, “Ditto,” he mouthed, which made them both smile.

“I hereby pronounce you husbands; if you want you could kiss now.”

Aaron wrapped his arms around Robert and gave him a kiss, soft and sweet and not too long.

“Congratulations,” the registrar said when they pulled apart.

Adam and Vic joined in, hugged them both and congratulated them.

“You all need to sign the certificate and then you are good to go.”

A few minutes later they were all back out in the hall. Aaron was not able to take his eyes off Robert, even when he was talking to Adam and Robert was talking to Vic.

Adam laughed and pulled Vic away from Robert. “Come on, babe,” he said. “Let’s go ahead to the car.”

Vic looked surprised, but then she caught on and nodded. “Oh, yeah, all right. Take your time, guys.”

They both grinned and then walked down the hall towards the exit.

Robert and Aaron gravitated towards each other; Robert’s hands found their place on Aaron’s hips and Aaron wrapped his arms around his middle.

“We did it,” Aaron said, still a little bit in awe.

“We did it,” Robert repeated and dipped his head to give him a short kiss.

“It’s still kind of hard to believe,” Aaron said with a grin.

“Yeah,” Robert agreed, “I bet if you asked the village not one of them would have bet on us to make it.”

“Except Liv,” Aaron said.

“And Vic,” Robert added and they both smiled, thinking about their very supportive little sisters.

“You sad we didn’t get the big ceremony?” Robert asked worried.

Aaron shook his head immediately. “No, actually, I think I liked this one even better.”

Robert smiled and kissed him again. 

“So,” Aaron said, “I know this is not very romantic of me, but I think I’m gonna stay at the hospital tonight. I don’t wanna leave mum alone and Liv has to get some sleep. Would you mind if you two go home without me?”

Robert nodded. “Of course. I mean, sure, I would rather stay with you, but we still have the honeymoon for that, right?”

“Right,” Aaron said and kissed him again. “Thanks for understanding.”

“Sure,” Robert said. “Now let’s go and see if Chas is awake.”

They made their way down the hall and Aaron asked, “You think she is gonna kill me first? No, she’ll probably kill you first and make me watch.”

Robert laughed and shook his head. “No, she is too weak to kill anybody today, but still, no harm in keeping a safe distance.”

\--

The ride back was pretty uneventful. Adam had turned the radio back on and after a lot of tuning he had found a station that was all right. 

Vic was the one in the passenger seat this time and she couldn’t look away from the back mirror to the back seat. Robert and Aaron sat there, close, but not all over each other. Robert had his arm draped over the backrest and Aaron was leaning against his shoulder. Aaron was looking out the window, but Robert was looking at him. And once again, Vic found herself thinking that she had never in all their lives seen Robert looking at someone like this. Like nothing else mattered, like they could drive on for hours and he wouldn’t mind one bit, like there was nothing more important in the world than this person. To sum it up, Vic had never seen Robert love anyone like this.

For some reason Robert looked up now and caught Vic’s eyes in the mirror. She looked back and smiled and he smiled back and nodded. A silent question between siblings, answered without a word. Yes, Robert was happy. Yes, Vic was very happy he was happy.

\--

When they got in front of Chas’s hospital room, they could hear chatter. 

“Oh, mum is awake,” Aaron said and it did sound a bit dreadful.

“She’ll be happy,” Vic said. “Come on.”

She opened the door and inside were Chas and Liv, of course, but also Diane and Doug.

“Congratulations!” they all cheered and Robert and Aaron looked indeed very surprised.

“How…when..?” Aaron tried to ask Liv.

“Oh, it was all Vic’s idea, she called and I got Diane and Doug and they brought the champagne and then Chas woke up and we had to tell her and she…,” Liv tried to answer until Chas interrupted her.

“… She was flipping mad she was gonna miss her only son’s wedding! This could not have waited a few days?”

Aaron bit his lip and looked away from her. He was just about to say something when Robert spoke up.

“No,” he said, “it couldn’t. We wanted to get married today, we wanted to /be/ married. And so we did. I’m sorry you couldn’t be there, but with all respect, this was something between me and Aaron.”

Even though Robert was right, he always had a way of sounding a bit harsher than it was intended.

Adam sensed that Chas was gonna snark back and so he beat her to it.

“It really wasn’t that big of a deal, Chas,” Adam said. “I can reenact it for you.”

Adam acted the very short ceremony out with different voices, the voice of Aaron being scarily spot-on.

When he was through with the question he whispered in an overly dramatic voice “I love you…oh, I love you, too…you are the sunshine of my life.”

“I did not say that,” Aaron protested and Diane and Doug laughed.

“Something like that,” Adam said. “Anyway and then…I pronounce you husbands, if you want you can snog now,” he ended his play with awfully loud kissing noises.

Everyone laughed and clapped, Robert shook his head and Aaron’s eyes were on some spot on the wall.

Liv was sitting beside him and nudged him. “I’m so happy for you two,” she whispered.

“Thanks,” he said and gave her a hug from the side.

“Thank you, Adam,” Chas said with a laugh, “Now I know exactly what happened.”

Diane and Doug were giving out the champagne when Chas waved Aaron to her.

He sat down on her bed and she pulled him down in a hug. “I’m so happy for you,” she whispered, “and so proud of you. You created a great life for yourself.”

Aaron shook his head and gave his mum a kiss on the cheek.

But when he looked around the room, seeing Diane and Doug laughing about something silly Adam said, seeing Vic cleaning up the empty glasses and seeing Liv hugging Robert a little too tight and a little too long, he thought yes, he has created a wonderful life.

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me at Tumblr: smittenwithsugden.tumblr.com


End file.
